With snow piled 20-30 feet high and all runs open, there’s going to be plenty of winter for Spring Break family fun at Big Bear’s two inner tubing areas.

    Alpine Slide at Magic Mountain and Big Bear Snow Play are both reporting huge base depths on their inner tubing hills, ensuring there will be winter sliding well past Easter. It’s been a great season for natural snow and both areas continue to operate their powerful Lenko fan guns to ensure guests enjoy the best conditions.

    Spring break is the perfect time to enjoy inner tubing in the mountains for families who planned on making a trip to the snow but haven’t. Typically sunny days and blue skies make for optimum weather conditions, the days are longer and the snow is great.

    Getting to the top of all the snow is easy thanks to Magic Carpet uphill lifts. Just step on the moving conveyor belts after each twisting, turning tube trip and ride back to the top for the next...no climbing up lets even the youngest riders get in all the runs they can handle. Plus the carpets at both hills are encased in clear Plexiglass covers that keep falling snow off and make the ride back up warmer.

    Big Bear Snow Play was at one time the Rebel Ridge ski hill and presents the longest inner tubing runs in Southern California. Alpine Slide, in addition to offering regular downhill runs, is also home of the famous “Snake,” a twisting, serpentining descent of high-banked turns that whip riders back and forth.

    Heated base lodges with paved parking, family-priced snack bars, video games and clean restrooms complete the worldclass tubing experiences at Big Bear Snow Play and Alpine Slide. Both are open daily for inner tubing from 10 a.m.-4 p.m. and all-day passes, which include tube rental and use of the Magic Carpet lift, are just $22.

    Alpine Slide also offers night tubing sessions from 5-9 p.m. each Friday and Saturday plus nightly from March 14-22, priced at just $15. Tubing under the stars is a unique experience as guests slide through the shadows, and the snow, freshly groomed after the day session, gets faster and slicker as the night goes on. Alpine Slide is also home to the signature bobsled-like ride of the same name, on which riders aboard individually-controlled sleds get a taste of Olympic bobsledding during descents down quarter-mile tracks filled with long straightaways and banked turns.

    Big Bear Snow Play is on the boulevard east of the supermarkets next to Motel 6. 585-0075. Alpine Slide is 1/4 mile west of the Village. Call (909) 866-4626.